WND Exclusive

Islamist: We sparked violent protests in America

Claims credit for having 'sensitized' nations on 'uprising'

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially.

A leader of the jihad that has kept Afghanistan in turmoil for years says the violent “Occupy” protests across the United States are an outgrowth of his movement.

The claim comes from Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, chief of Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan, in a recent article in the Pashtu-language Pakistani daily Wrazpanra Wahdat.

“We can say with full confidence that the latest spring in Africa and the Arab world and the uprising in Europe and the United States is the effect of Afghan jihad on [an] international level and all these revolutions have gotten inspiration from our [faithful] mujahideen and their resistance,” he wrote.

The MEMRI report said the message came on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday that was celebrated early in November.

The report said Hekmatyar claimed the “mujahideen” has “sensitized nations on uprising and rebellion against the puppet governments in their colonized countries.”

He wrote that the Muslim mujahideen’s resistance “against the Crusade forces” is about completed, as “the American invaders are facing defeat and are in a situation to withdraw.”

He noted the economic troubles around the world and the protests over measures to address them.

“The Afghan war has got the Western countries to face with political, collective, economic, and such other big problems which they are unable to resolve. On the one hand they are facing severe economic crisis, while on the other hand they are facing serious opposition against the continuation of war,” he wrote. “It is difficult for them to continue the war in Afghanistan amidst growing opposition and massive protests [by the Occupy Wall Street movement], opposing capitalist system in United States, Britain, Spain and France.”

The movement launched weeks ago as a purported grassroots campaign to raise questions about the alleged imbalance in the U.S. economic system, whereby some are very wealthy and others not.

Quickly it transformed into a concert of chaos with multiple anti-capitalist messages. It previously announced “direct actions” that included the blocking of subways and bridges in addition to the “occupation” of various city districts around the country.

In a signal the movement may be entering a more violent phase, Occupy Wall Street unveiled a new website titled Occupy Revolution to serve as a central hub for planning revolutionary tactics.

As WND was first to report, the tactic of blocking bridges, already used by Occupy Wall Street to hold up the Brooklyn Bridge last month, was institutionalized by Stephen Lerner, a controversial anti-capitalist SEIU organizer.

Lerner has visited the White House four times. His former boss, Andy Stern, SEIU’s recently retired president, was the most frequent White House visitor in 2009, according to presidential visitor logs. Obama himself trained SEIU in the 1990s.

SEIU and other major unions, including the AFL-CIO and the Laborers’ International Union of North America, already announced they will partner with Occupy Wall Street for protests.